Written By vibykhmer on Thursday, January 22, 2009 | 10:20 PM

First Solar Eclipse Of 2009 On Jan 26

Fri, 01/23/2009Submitted by Darpana KuttyTopNews.in (India)

A partial solar eclipse would be visible in south-eastern parts of India on January 26.

The eclipse would be total in island groups Sumatra and Borneo of Indonesia. It would also be visible from southern Africa, northwestern Antarctica, Australia and Southeast Asia.The eclipse would begin at 10.27 am IST. The eclipse would end at 4:31 pm IST when the moon’s shadow finally leaves the earth at local sunset point very close to south of Cambodia in the south China sea. The best time to watch the eclipse in India will be between 3 pm and 3.30 pm.

While talking about this, Varah Mihir Scientist Heritage and Research Centre's Astronomist Sanjay Kethwas said, “A total of four solar and lunar eclipses will occur this year.” Kethwas added that a lunar eclipse would be occurred on December 31 this year but as it will start appearing after mid night so technically it will recorded in January 2010.

The sun, moon and earth are placed in a line during an eclipse, which is categorised as total, partial or annular depending on the distance between the moon and earth.

Experts had already warned people not to look at the eclipse without protecting their eyes. According to them, a good way to observe the eclipse is to create a pinhole camera that is pointed at the sun and its image projected onto a darkened screen.

Solar filters can also be used to observe the eclipse. They also feel that it is not safe to use photo-negatives, X-ray photos, sunglasses or stained glass to observe the eclipse.